Two of the BBC’s most senior leaders resigned abruptly on Sunday following uproar over claims that a documentary had misleadingly edited footage of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech before the January 6 Capitol riot.
Director General Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, stepped down just days after The Daily Telegraph revealed details of a leaked internal memo. The memo alleged that a Panorama documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?, had edited together comments made by Mr. Trump roughly 50 minutes apart, creating the impression that he had explicitly urged supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol.
“Like all public institutions, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always strive to be open, transparent, and accountable,” Mr. Davie said in his resignation statement. “While not the sole reason for my decision, the current debate surrounding BBC News has understandably contributed to it. Mistakes were made, and as director general, I take ultimate responsibility.”
Ms. Turness echoed that sentiment in her own announcement, writing: “The ongoing controversy around the Panorama episode on President Trump has reached a point where it is damaging the BBC — an institution I love deeply. The buck stops with me.” She insisted, however, that “recent claims that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
Mr. Trump welcomed the resignations in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The BBC, with roughly 21,000 employees, is the world’s largest public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by a television license fee paid by British households, supplemented by commercial revenue. Its reach extends globally through its international services.
Pressure on BBC leadership had mounted after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the broadcaster of being “purposefully dishonest” in its portrayal of Mr. Trump’s speech, citing the leaked memo written by Michael Prescott, a former journalist and independent adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee until June.
Mr. Prescott’s memo not only criticized the Trump documentary but also accused the broadcaster of avoiding contentious stories about transgender issues and of giving airtime on BBC Arabic to a journalist with a history of antisemitic posts.
Mr. Davie, who led the BBC for five years and had weathered multiple controversies — earning the nickname “Teflon Tim” — appears to have concluded that his position was no longer tenable. The BBC’s leadership had been expected to apologize to Parliament on Monday for the handling of the Trump documentary.
The broadcaster has faced a series of editorial and reputational challenges this year. It was rebuked by Ofcom, Britain’s media regulator, for failing to disclose that the narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official, and it drew criticism for airing a Glastonbury performance in which the artist led anti-Israel chants.
Some BBC insiders argue that the corporation is being unfairly targeted. “There is a genuine concern about editorial standards and mistakes,” wrote Today program presenter Nick Robinson on social media. “But there is also a political campaign by those who want to destroy the organization.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy praised Mr. Davie for his service, calling the BBC “one of our most important national institutions.” However, earlier on Sunday, she acknowledged that decisions about editorial tone and standards were “not always well thought through,” often left to individual journalists “to make in the moment.”
A spokesperson for the ruling Conservative Party welcomed the resignations but said Mr. Prescott’s report “exposed institutional bias that cannot be swept away with two departures — strong action is needed on all the issues it raised.”
White House spokesperson Ms. Leavitt celebrated the news on social media, posting screenshots of two headlines — one reading “Trump goes to war with ‘fake news’ BBC,” and another from the BBC itself: “Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general over Trump edit.” Above them, she wrote: “Shot” and “Chaser.”
Responding to her post, Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, cautioned: “To see Trump’s White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all.”
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